The Real Northanger Abbey

A real ruined Abbey! We visited Rivaulx Abbey in north Yorkshire.

    As I was flipping through my travel journal to make a post about this day to my dismay I could not find it anywhere. So I shall be making one more post from memory. :)

England 2015 Travel Journal
Monday, March 30

     We began our day with another jaunt into York. Instead of using the York Outlets Park'n'Ride we found a city parking lot just outside one of the city's medieval gates. The parking rates were reasonable, somewhere between £2-4 for a couple of hours, and we could walk to the attraction that we came to see.

     In the rooms of this particular city gate was an exhibit about the infamous Richard III and the artifacts found on the Towton battlefield (mostly some fiendish looking weapons). It gives you an interesting look at what it would have been like for a soldier during the 1460s-80s, such as the camps, the armor, the battles, the weapons and such (as well as the rather horrible fighting that went on). There was also an informative short video about the Battle of Towton.

Did Richard wear this dashing suit of armor?

     This isn't Richard's actual armor, but it is a good example of what he might have worn. It was an unusual set of stairs to climb up from the street to the exhibit, and possibly the narrowest, lowest-ceiling-ed staircase I've ever climbed!

     We finished our sojourn in York early enough to zip up to North Yorkshire and to one of the sights we'd decided to see based the wonderful plethora of brochures and magazines provided in our AirBNB cottage. It was the amazing Rievaulx Abbey. We almost went to the more famous Whitby Abbey, and I wish we could have, since it is situated in grandeur on the Yorkshire coast. But it was just too far to visit that day by car.

     Even though we could only make it to one site that afternoon it still felt as if we got to see so much because on any drive through England there will be beautiful scenery and many historic landmarks along the road. For instance, we drove right past Castle Howard – an enormous estate that has been the seat of some powerful people in the past. I think we might have actually driven through the estate because we passed a couple of gates like this:

Entering the grounds of Castle Howard.

     You can actually catch a glimpse of the Castle at one point!

The Village of Helmsley

     The village nearest to the Abbey is a lovely looking place called Helmsley, with some shops and cafes that looked most inviting (unfortunately we got there just as they were all closing at 5:00). We had to hurry on to our destination, and what scenery we had along the way! It was the perfect prelude to the magnificence of the Abbey. The country was filled with bare trees, the wind was chill and cold, and the sky was covered in sliver clouds, but the fields were a lush green, painting a strikingly epic backdrop for those admirable ruins.

Rievaulx Abbey in all of it's ruined glory!

    It's a National Heritage site, so it costs about £8 each to walk around the Abbey, but, boy, is it worth the cost. What an imposing, splendid, spectacular, awe-inspiring sight! I could almost become a Gothic romance fan myself, it was such an amazing atmosphere. It made me more sympathetic to Jane Austen's Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey. But I can tell you that I would not wish to be there at night... It was lonely enough at a light 5:00 when you are the only two people wandering around. (The site closes at 6:00, by the way.)

One of the crumbling rooms of the Abbey

     There were helpful plaques placed in nearly every room (or what would have been a room when the Abbey was whole). The picture below is of the dining area, I believe. Can you imagine eating dinner in a space like this? All I can think about is how cold I would be during breakfast... The breakfast would be cold, too, I suppose. ;)

The stony dining hall of the Abbey

     Here we are in the main hall. It was haunting to stand in that space and imagine what it must have looked like in all of its glory. It just amazes me how people so long ago could have constructed such intricate and enormous structures, and yet here they still stand, looking more beautiful than any modern building I have ever seen. The motives were often questionable – power, display, intimidation, self-righteousness – but even that can tell us more about the people of the past and bring them closer to us, which also helps us to understand ourselves, since humankind never really changes.

     Okay, now I am done rhapsodizing or philosophizing or monolog-izing.... (and making up words)! ;)

Keeping warm...

    As you can see, maximum coverage was essential to keeping tolerably warm and comfortable in that frigid breeze, but – it was Yorkshire.

Would Henry Tilney call this a picturesque view?

     It was so atmospheric! I began to actually sympathize with Catherine Morland. I tend to think of her as a little juvenile for letting her imagination run away with her, but really, with such a scene it would take a singularly level-headed person to resist letting their imagination at least begin walking away with them.

     One minute my mind was full of monks walking cold halls trying to live a life of self-denial in this center of the Roman church in this remote corner of the north, and the next I could see soldiers of Henry VIII burning and sacking the Abbey for its riches in this far corner of the kingdom. Then I would summon up some romantic poets coming to the ruins to sit and contemplate the mossy stones and vaulted arches for inspiration, or Victorian Londoners up for a northern sketching holiday making their way as best they can in full skirts over the broken stairs and walls for the perfect picturesque view.

Both of us posing under that great arch would make for a dramatic painting, I think.

Who needs to read Mrs. Radcliffe when you've got the real thing! ;)

      This place has stood since the 11 and 1200s – for 900 years – and seen so much history. Those stones must have thousands of stories to tell, and walking among them, touching them with my hands, and imagining what they may have seen feels like a chance to honor the memories of each person and their real stories.



©2016 Anna Morton

On Wuthering Heights

| The moors of the Brontës. |

England Trip 2015 Travel Journal
Sunday, March 29 – Part Two

We decided to head to Haworth and Brontë country so we wouldn't get to the museum too late, and visit the North & South filming location afterward. I have never seen a country or surroundings whose mood and feel is so reflected in the stories of any writer! I have never read Wuthering Heights, but I have read Jane Eyre and I am familiar with the passion and gothic-like moods of these novels, and the wild hills covered in dark heather, the bare black trees, the clouds blowing dramatically overhead and the blasting wind almost blowing you down – moaning and whistling through the trees and over the hills – make it unmistakable that this landscape was an influence on the Brontë sisters.
They couldn't escape writing the way they did!

The Village of Haworth.

Looking across the moor to the Brontë parsonage.

Walking around the Brontë Parsonage museum made me sad, since so many of the family died young, and died in those very rooms. The struggle and near-darkness in the passions of the stories added to my feeling of sadness. It is quite a contrast from Chawton Cottage.

Looking over the graveyard to the parsonage.

My sneaky picture of the room where the Brontë sisters used to write together.

The drawing room is where Anne, Emily and Charlotte would stay up late and write together. Their writing desks, one of Charlotte's dresses and her wedding bonnet are spread out for us to see in different rooms. It was unreal to see those! She was quite little, too.

We then went for a walk to try to find a nearby moor, but after being pelted with some hail and the moor being nowhere in sight we went back to attempt another path through the cemetery. This was more successful in finding something at least moor-like and a place with a spectacular view.

Facing the hail, with the parsonage behind us.

The path up to the hills.

The moors!

We were very cold and a bit damp, but it was worth it! The sun was breaking through the clouds and the wind – It was blowing so hard that it felt like someone had a sheet wrapped around me and was pulling me backward! Not to mention that my hand would go numb if I took my glove off for a few seconds. Nevertheless we enjoyed ourselves immensely! As well as getting some fabulous pictures.

We walked through the heather, feeling very much like Jane Eyre as she ran away from Thornfield. While we trekked the path up to the heather the wind literally rushing over our heads made me either want to cower in fear or rush on to meet it, defying its worst! So I ran up the last stretch. :)

The famous moor heather.

I said it was windy... :)

We still had daylight left, so we headed to Keighley. You know how you have a sort of idea in your head of what a film location actually looks like? Well, that idea is always wrong – at least in my experience – which usually makes them hard to find.

But not in this case. Those green mill doors were unmistakable!

The gates of Dalton Mill, used as Malborough Mills in BBC's North & South

I literally gasped. And the place was completely deserted, which was perfect for sneaking some pictures.

"Look back. Look back at me."

It's Malborough Mills!! Alas, there was no Mr. Thornton...

It's a business complex now, with different companies in various building, but it is still very much a mill. It was technically once Dalton Mill, but to me it was Malbrough Mills. Mrs. Thornton's window, Mr. Thornton's steps, Margaret's visits – every place was there. I was actually brave enough to climb the steps to pose – but there was no one driving off to whom I could whisper "look back at me..." ;)

Talk about being transported! All we were missing was Richard Armitage. I had to stand in the spot where Mr. Thornton says one of my favorite lines to Margaret: "You're ill?" His concern for Margaret at that moment takes my breath away every time.

"I've not become so fine as to forget the source of my son's power and wealth. The Mill is everything." - Mrs. Thornton

Oddly, one of the most exciting parts of it all was after we had driven our car past the mill to leave and I saw a metal gate coming down, closing the complex! We had just made it. (That was at 7:00. We parked just around the corner in the neighborhood, by the way.)

Dinner and a fabulous Hob Nob ice cream sundae at the Carvery wound up the day in Keighley. (Hob Nobs are a sort of oat cookie with chocolate coating one side.) Carveries are wondrous places where you can get in line and ask for delicious meats (turkey, roast beef, ham), vegetables (potatoes, root veggies, Brussels sprouts), Yorkshire pudding and gravy to be piled onto your plate. It is one of the finest aspects of British cuisine.

Hob Nobs and ice cream!

It was just an unforgettable day! And one accompanied by the soundtracks of North & South and Jane Eyre. :)


© 2016 Anna Morton

"Matlock, Dovedale and the Peak": Jane Austen's Derbyshire

 

"She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste."
Pride and Prejudice

     Jane Austen must have been familiar with the sights of Derbyshire – "The Peaks" or the Peak District, as it is also called – when she wrote Pride and Prejudice, or Elizabeth Bennet would not have had anything to talk about during the awkward silences while she and Mr. Darcy tried having a conversation at Pemberley.

     Next time I go to England I would love to really explore this place, home to so many unforgettable scenes in the book and movie versions of Pride and Prejudice. It also abounds in majestic scenery made up of mountains, rocks and lush green hills that can be seen on any number of walks and hikes (for the more adventurous). From her letters and novels we know Jane Austen loved the country, and, in choosing Derbyshire to be the setting for an estate that represented what an elegant and tasteful home should be, she seemed to think rather highly of this particular county.

"Wildness and artifice, and all in the one perfect county."

      So where are these places, exactly? Well, Derbyshire county itself is about 150 miles north of London, just over halfway between London and the Scottish border. The county is 2,625 kilometers in size, and it's larger towns include Derby, Matlock, and Buxton.

Dovedale, one of the sights that Lizzy and the Gardiners visited, is renowned for its beauty and particularly abounds in walks (which would explain why Lizzy enjoys it so much).
Here is a website with more information: www.visitpeakdistrict.com

Thorpe Cloud at Dovedale
Source: Wikipedia, Rob Bendall

I don't know what "the peak" is that Jane is referring to, but there are other amazing rock formations that one sees in both movies.

There are the "Ramshaw Rocks" found in "The Roaches" which are featured in the 1995 BBC version. (www.peakdistrictinformation.com)

"Elizabeth, be careful! How could I face your father if you took a fall?"

And of course there is the unforgettable shot of Elizabeth standing on "Stanage Edge" in the 2005 Joe Wright adaptation. That scene with its majestic, swelling music gets me every time! (stanageedge.co.uk)

I just want to stand there and pretend to be Lizzy!

Of course, there are those iconic houses, which both are very appropriately located in or near Derbyshire.

There is Lyme Park, used in BBC's 1995 adaptation, located in Disley, not too far from Manchester. It's accessible by train, and there is a lovely shuttle that drives visitors from the entrance to the Park up to the house. There is also a car park for those lucky enough to be driving one around the country.

The house is open from 11:00 - 5:00 every day except Wednesdays and Thursdays (but including Thursdays from July 25 - September 4 ); the Gardens are open every day. The standard price to see both is £9.90.

Check out nationaltrust.org.uk/lyme for more information.

The beautiful grounds of Pemberley.

Chatsworth House is now one of the most famous houses in Britain, thanks to 'Pride and Prejudice' films! Of course, it was famous before that, but some of us had never noticed it until it showed up in a Jane Austen movie. It has been said that this house was actually the inspiration for Pemberley, and it may in part have been. But I've also heard that it is just a bit too grand even for Mr. Darcy. Either way, Jane certainly knew of it, possibly visited it herself, and one will hardly see a more happily situated house anywhere.

The House and gardens are open from March 19 - November 4 this year from 11:00 - 5:00 (10:30 from May 28 - September 4), and admission to both is £20.

For more prices and times see: www.chatsworth.org

The iconic Chatsworth.

I've created a Google map of all these places, just to give an idea of where they are in location to each other and the county.

A Derbyshire map, courtesy of Google.

One day I hope we shall all be so fortunate as to be able to see the "beautiful grounds at Pemberley"!
(Which ever one it happens to be...)


© 2016 Anna Morton